Emmys Most Frustrating Snubs

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From Parks and Rec to Fringe's John Noble, here's the missing nominations that are bugging us the most.

By Eric Goldman

The Emmy nominations are out, and there's certainly a lot we're happy about here at IGN, as great shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Lost once again got plenty of attention, while break out successes Modern Family and Glee also got a ton of nominations. [Click here to see what else got nominated this year.]

But there are still a few absences that are worth noting. When you began the, "Hey, they didn't nominate…" game, it can get a bit out of hand, so I'm limiting myself to just five that stand out the most to me here, but there are definitely others I wouldn't disagree were worthy as well and would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Meanwhile, here's my list of the Emmys Most Frustrating Snubs.

Friday Night Lights for Drama Series It's become expected that this critically adored series will be ignored every year in the major categories, just as The Wire and Battlestar Galactica were. The funny (and amazing!) thing is, after four seasons, it seems a lot of the Emmy voters woke up about FNL this year, and the show got several well –deserved nominations, including the excellent leads, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, and a writing nomination for the amazing episode "The Son." That being said, what will it take for the show itself to get a nomination? Week after week, this series delivers some of the most gripping and emotional content on TV and it would be nice to have it fully recognized… though it's still hard not to cheer the nominations it finally got!

Parks and Recreation for Comedy Series One of the year's most amazing upswings in quality had to be Parks, which had impressed few with its mediocre first season in the spring of 2009. But last fall, Parks quickly evolved into one of the best and funniest comedies on TV, making expert use of the entire ensemble and coming up with one hysterically memorable situation after another. It's great that Amy Poehler got a nomination for Parks, but the shows absence was still notable in the comedy category. Seeing the waning The Office nominated again this year, when Parks was so much better, is a reminder of how tough it can be to get Emmy voters to change their habits. I'm also going to cheat a bit on keeping this list to five and throw in that Nick Offerman completely deserved a nomination for supporting actor in a comedy for his sublime work as Ron Swanson.

John Noble for Supporting Actor in a DramaJohn Noble has been great as Dr. Walter Bishop since Fringe began, but this past year, he really got to cut loose. The wonderful episode "Peter" was a huge tour de force for the actor, who gave an incredibly emotional, touching performance, as we saw the events that led Walter to commit the shocking act that is central to Fringe's backstory. After that, Noble also got to play "Walternate", the Walter from another reality, and completely sold this guy as someone incredibly different from the Walter we knew, showing all the different mannerisms and behaviors that set the two men apart. It's hard for sci-fi to get much respect from the Emmys, but it sure would have been nice for Noble's work to be an exception.

Survivor for Reality Competition Program It's not quite clear why the incredibly dependable Survivor continues to be overlooked in this category, but it's another case where it seems Emmy voters simply get used to voting for the same shows year after year. This time though it was especially vexing, because Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was such a wonderful season for the show, proving that after ten years, the show can still deliver some amazing twists and turns. The that some of the shows that did get nominated -- including American Idol, Project Runway and the usually solid Amazing Race -- had fairly mediocre seasons makes it even more frustrating that Survivor was overlooked.

Torchwood: Children of Earth for Outstanding Miniseries Once again, we know that the Emmys are not ones to quickly or easily recognize sci-fi. But here's the thing – there were only two programs nominated in this entire category! Sure, The Pacific and Return to Cranford deserve their nominations, but Children of Earth was a standout as well, taking the Torchwood franchise and elevating it in a surprising and powerful way. Come on, Emmy voters… you couldn't have thrown Captain Jack Harkness a little love? Thanks to Tamara Brooks for the reminder on this one!

So there are five nominations we're most missing. What about you? Let us know which you would have liked to see in the comments below.